This invention relates to apparatus and methods for removing burr from edges of metal strip.
In the commercial-scale manufacture of many kinds of sheet metal articles, illustratively exemplified by siding and ceiling panels and venetian blind slats, a relatively wide strip of sheet metal is initially slit longitudinally into plural narrower strips which are thereafter subjected to various process line operations commonly including the painting or other coating of one or both strip surfaces. When metal strip is slit into narrower widths on a conventional slitting line using rotary knives, a burr is commonly formed on each slit edge of the strip. The burr projects for several thousandths of an inch from and perpendicular to the strip surface, in an upward or downward direction depending on the arrangement of knives in the slitter.
Presence of the burr along one or both strip edges can be deleterious in subsequent operations to which the strip is subjected. For instance, in a coating line in which paint is applied to the slit strip by conventional urethane-covered rollers, the burr cuts into the roller covering, causing damage. Again, in coating procedures as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,356,216, 4,356,217, and 4,387,123, wherein the strip is advanced past an extended closely proximate metal plate or like surface immediately downstream of the locality of paint application, the burr galls and thereby damages the plate face. Accordingly, diverse types of devices have heretofore been proposed for deburring (removing burr from) edges of metal strip, e.g. ahead of locations in process lines at which it is desired that the strip be burr-free.